1--What is the title of your latest release?
GOLDA’S HUTCH
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Craig Schumacher is not your typical executive. With a gentle spirit and a morning ritual that includes serene meditation alongside his cherished rabbit, Golda, Craig values connection over competition. Yet, beneath his calm, polished exterior lies a secret he’s worked hard to keep hidden—one that could change everything.
Enter Byron Dorn—Craig’s employee and chaos incarnate. Crude, impulsive, and driven by envy, Byron is elated when he and his wife stumble upon information that he believes could unravel Craig’s life. But when Byron ropes another couple into his schemes, things become a lot more complicated.
Because Craig isn’t the only one with a secret. And as the stakes rise, everyone will have to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice to get what they want—and when they’re willing to walk away.
Set against the dynamic backdrop of San Francisco, this gripping psychological novel weaves a complex tapestry of deception, envy, desire, politics, and power. It compels readers to confront a haunting question: How well do you really know the people you encounter every day?
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Golda’s Hutch required a setting where I could explore the morals and ethics (or lack thereof) in a bustling corporate headquarters, the gritty underground BDSM community of a sexually progressive city, and marital struggles and indiscretions in a sophisticated urban environment. San Francisco circa 1999 fit the bill.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely—and for me that would also be true for all seven of the book’s major characters (three married couples and a single woman). And I’d actually love spending time with Golda as well (who’s a rabbit, but even so…)
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Well—three phrases: Deeply introverted, plagued by a misunderstood sexual orientation, and possessed of an unflinching moral compass.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
One of the main characters in Golda’s Hutch is a mortician, but she specializes in the preparation of seriously damaged bodies for open-casket viewing. She therefore combines esoteric technical and artistic skills. During my research, I learned some fascinating (and eye-opening) secrets about this bewildering craft.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I write in short segments. I edit each segment compulsively before moving on to the next. But while I’m doing that, there is this mysterious subconscious background process going on in my head, planning the next segment, and perhaps some further bits of business down the road. I know that such a background process is always percolating deep inside me, because occasionally something intriguing about a future segment suddenly pops into my head—interrupting my foreground process—and I’ll stop for a moment, jump ahead in the manuscript, and quickly jot down a note about it.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
A ridiculously rich French chocolate custard called Pots de creme. The dish is weaved together (with great patience and attention to detail) from dark chocolate, cream, sugar, and egg yolks. This past Valentine’s Day, my wife and I spent hours together whipping up a batch. We filled six small ramekins with the raw velvety concoction, baked the vessels in a bubbling water bath, and had heavenly deserts for Valentine’s dinner and for two days after.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I write in a small room in the back off the house. The walls are lined with bookshelves. There are two wooden desks alongside each other—one old and traditional—the other a contemporary computer desk with a Macintosh computer and a printer on top, a pullout shelf for the keyboard, and a big modem resting underneath where the cable company feeds its offerings into the house. There’s an old futon along one side of the room—my wife has a serious chronic illness—if she’s had a bad day I give her the big king-bed in the bedroom and open the futon for me to sleep on that night (she doesn’t need an old guy snoring and tossing and turning next to her when she’s having enough trouble battling pain and getting sleep). The room also has a big soft carpet, which serves as my giant yoga mat when I practice and meditate.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Many well-known writers have influenced my work, but two relatively obscure authors have been especially influential for me as well: Gerald Kersh, who was most productive in the 1940’s and 1950’s; and Jerzy Kosinski, who was most productive in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although they wrote what I considered very powerful works, both men died at age fifty-seven, so we were never able to see the kind of books they might have produced with more years of wisdom and life-experience behind them. When I was a senior in high school, I was reading lots of short stories by Gerald Kersh, which were along the lines of those written by Edgar Allan Poe but with a somewhat more contemporary feel. I was totally immersed in Kersh’s work, and wrote a story of my own in his style. I showed it to my English teacher, who liked it so much she entered it in Scholastic Magazine’s national short story contest. It won first prize, and years later was optioned by a couple of Hollywood screenwriters who remembered coming across it in middle school. But no movie was ever made.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Sometime around junior high school age, in the late 1960s, I discovered the joys of lofty literary fiction by such immortals as John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, and Hermann Hesse. But prior to that, when I was still too young to appreciate such fare, I had come across the Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. These were exciting pulp-fodder for an introverted adolescent boy. But more importantly, for a kid who was just figuring out that he wanted to be a writer, one of the twenty or so Tarzan novels I devoured had a special reward. Burroughs told two stories simultaneously, one about Tarzan himself, and another about Tarzan’s young-adult son who’d run away and was in another part of Africa. When those two stories came crashing together at a pivotal moment in the novel the result was so stirring and compelling—and the craft that the author had employed to get there so perfectly executed—that I declared to myself that I wanted to be an author and learn to do that.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I have since formed my own small imprint, which published Golda’s Hutch. But I vividly recall the very first time, years ago, that an independent press accepted a novel I’d written.
My wife and I were remodeling our bathroom, and found ourselves with our contractor at one of those places where you select slabs of marble for the sink-counter and tub, and compatible tiles for the floor.
We’d made our selections, and now we were in a tiny room, sitting around a small oblong table with the saleswoman, going through the exact dimensions of the pieces into which the stone slab would be cut, and the precise number of tiles we’d need to cover the exposed portion of the floor. The contractor and the saleswoman were meticulously going over scale drawings. My wife was paying rapt attention, fascinated with the goings-on. But I was not. By this point I found the whole thing unbearably tedious. Although my wife had specifically asked me to pay attention and keep my iPhone in my pocket, I just couldn’t anymore. I surreptitiously slipped it out and, under cover of the table, began to scroll through the emails that had arrived that day.
One of the emails was from a small independent press to which I’d submitted the novel. But that novel had been rejected so many times, I felt certain this was probably just another rejection. So, I slipped the iPhone back into my pocket and tried to reengage with the discussion and the scale drawings.
But I couldn’t resist—the tiny hope that this submission would be different was gnawing at me. About five minutes later I slipped the iPhone back out of my pocket, and holding it under the table where no one else could see it, I opened the email.
The novel had been accepted for publication! I couldn’t contain myself. I leaped up, held the iPhone high, and screamed, “My novel has been accepted for publication! It’s been accepted!”
I guess my excitement was so great, that my wife immediately forgave me for peeking at my iPhone. Our contractor yelled and clapped his hands. When we explained to the saleswoman what all the hoopla was about, she opened the door to the tiny room and shouted to everyone in the store: “We have an author with us. His book was just accepted for publication.” People I didn’t know swarmed over to congratulate me.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Literary fiction. Usually 19th and 20th century works, but some contemporary novels as well.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
This would be a toss-up between “Casablanca” with Humphrey Bogart made in 1942, and “The Wolfman” with Lon Chaney Jr. made in 1941.
15--What is your favorite season?
The seasons here in San Francisco have subtle distinctions and can be difficult to pin down precisely—but I’d have to say autumn.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Quietly, at a small intimate restaurant with my wife.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
My two all-time favorite television series were “NYPD Blue” and “Dexter.”
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian. With Indian a close second. I’ve been a strict vegetarian for over half a century, and these cuisines have very nice offerings along those lines.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I like to hike with my dog, and I like to practice yoga with soft Baroque music playing in the background, usually works by Bach or Telemann
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’ll let you know when I’ve figured that out!
How well do you really know the people you encounter every day?
Craig Schumacher is not your typical executive. With a gentle spirit and a morning ritual that includes serene meditation alongside his cherished rabbit, Golda, Craig values connection over competition. Yet, beneath his calm, polished exterior lies a secret he’s worked hard to keep hidden—one that could change everything.
Enter Byron Dorn—Craig’s employee and chaos incarnate. Crude, impulsive, and driven by envy, Byron is elated when he and his wife stumble upon information that he believes could unravel Craig’s life. But when Byron ropes another couple into his schemes, things become a lot more complicated.
Because Craig isn’t the only one with a secret. And as the stakes rise, everyone will have to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice to get what they want—and when they’re willing to walk away.
Set against the dynamic backdrop of San Francisco, this gripping psychological novel weaves a complex tapestry of deception, envy, desire, politics, and power.
Thriller Psychological [Deft Heft Books, On Sale: March 11, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780988811652 / eISBN: 9780988811645]
Robert Steven Goldstein is the author of five novels. His first, The Swami Deheftner, about problems that ensue when ancient magic and mysticism manifest in the twenty-first century, developed a small cult following in India. His second novel, Enemy Queen, a sexual comedy of manners set in a North Carolina college town, was a finalist in the category of cross genre fiction for the International Book Awards. Robert’s third novel, Cat’s Whisker, probes the perceived rift between science and spirituality; it was longlisted for the prestigious Chanticleer International 2021 SOMERSET Book Award for Literary and Contemporary Fiction. His fourth novel, Will’s Surreal Period, about the peripatetic machinations of a dysfunctional family, was longlisted for the Chanticleer International 2022 SOMERSET Book Award for Literary and Contemporary Fiction. Golda’s Hutch, Robert’s fifth novel, is a gripping psychological drama, weaving a complex tapestry of deception, envy, desire, politics, and power; it was shortlisted for the prestigious Chanticleer International 2024 SOMERSET Book Award for Literary and Contemporary Fiction. Robert and his wife Sandy live in San Francisco; over their thirty-six years together, they’ve shared their home with an array of dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, and parrots, each of whom has displayed a unique personality, startling intelligence, and a profound capacity for love. Robert has practiced yoga, meditation, and vegetarianism for over fifty years.
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